Bite Club Page 0,65

he say?"

"Don't know. Don't care."

"Doug," I repeated. Some of the fog cleared for me, even though I kept clenching my fists, burning off excess energy. "College guy? Got his throat cut?"

"Yeah, that's him. Stinky Doug. 'Cause, man, he had some hygiene issues."

"Which is a lot, coming from you," Shiemaa said. Keith threw a punch at her, behind my back. She blocked it without any effort. "Why? Did you know him?"

"My girl found the body," I said. "She knew him. I didn't know he was in this."

"Yeah, he was one of the first they asked in," Shiemaa said. "Probably because he was crazy and a loner and cracked out half the time. Wasn't even a Morganville kid. Guess they cut their losses."

Funny, but the idea that Vassily and Glory would kill one of us to protect their little messed-up fight club...that didn't surprise me. Didn't alarm me, either. Stinky Doug had brought it on himself.

Shiemaa tapped me on the back of the head, not gently. "Yo, pretty boy, you want to go a few?" The ring was empty now. The vamps were disappearing now, heading out to do whatever it was they did during the midnight hours.

"Nah," I said. I didn't feel like hitting anybody right now, not even Shiemaa, who could take it. "I'm going out to hit some bags."

"Suit yourself," she said, and tapped Keith. "Let's go, big guy."

I went outside, into the public area. Didn't matter at this time of the night, because there were few people who ventured in, and when the vamps cleared out--which they did nightly to go hit the blood bank or date or do whatever it was--we had the place mostly to ourselves. I waded into the heavy bag.

And pretty soon, the rest of them came out to join me.

Like a pack.

I hit the bag and felt better, because finally, I knew what I was doing.

I was leading the pack.

And that was okay.

Chapter Ten

TEN

He wasn't answering his cell, but it was a damn good bet that he had gone where he said he was going--to the gym.

In the end, they all went to find him, because Michael wasn't letting Claire go alone, and Eve wasn't letting Michael go without her. They took Eve's big, black hearse, which had a big enough front bench seat to hold three across. Claire ended up in the middle.

"Hey," she said as Eve navigated the giant Deathmobile down the dark streets of Morganville. "So...what is this about getting married? Did I even actually hear that? Because I'm pretty sure I would have been told about that by mybest friend. " She accompanied it with an elbow into Eve's side. Eve made a choked sound that wasn't quite a cry.

Claire was trying to keep it light, because she was feeling anxious now, not just about Shane, but about the two of them. It was tough being a vampire/human couple; there had been plenty of problems already. It would only get harder, and Eve--Eve was strong, but she was also fragile.

Michael was looking out the window at the passing houses, and he didn't turn his head. "It was kind of an impulse thing," he said. "Eve wanted to wait and have a big announcement and an engagement party. I just didn't expect her to blurt it out like that."

"Well, I had to stop Terminator Shane from punching your face off," Eve said. "I like your face. And it worked, didn't it?"

"Back on topic," Claire interrupted. "When exactly did this happen?"

"He asked me at the party. You know, Gloriana's big party." That had been one of those weird vampire welcome-to-town shindigs where they'd been basically the only people with pulses invited. Claire hadn't felt comfortable. She and Shane had ducked out as soon as they could, although later she wished she hadn't, because she'd heard that crazy things had happened, and the spectacle ofEve dancing withOliver must have been, according to all the gossip, pretty compelling. Because Oliver apparently coulddance .

That still seemed bizarre.

She hadn't known what happened after, because Eve hadn't said. Claire had assumed nothing had happened of any real notice. Obviously, she'd been way, way wrong.

"So where's the ring?" Claire asked. She was staring at Eve's left hand. Nothing shiny on the third finger.

"I didn't want to wear it until we told people," Eve said. "I guess I can now. Right?"

"Right," Michael said. He started to say something else, but fell silent.

It felt strangely awkward, suddenly. And Claire's mixed feelings got even more mixed. Shewanted to believe